Resentment of U.S. Builds as Baghdad District Mourns
Days after car bombs killed 35 children, residents blame soldiers for letting the kids gather around them.

October 3, 2004

THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ Morgue Overflowing After Samarra Offensive

The city is mostly quiet following two days of clashes with insurgents. An Internet videotape appears to show an Iraqi engineer's beheading.

By Thomas S. Mulligan and Suhail Ahmed, Times Staff Writers

AD DAWR, Iraq — As U.S.-led forces consolidated their control over rebellious Samarra on Saturday, humanitarian officials described a hellish scene within the city in the wake of a two-day offensive by 5,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops.

The morgue in Samarra's main hospital was overflowing, so some of the dead had to be laid out on the floor of an unrefrigerated hall, said Nura abid Bakir, director of the Red Crescent branch in the northern Iraqi province of Salahuddin. She cited reports from Red Crescent volunteers who had been to the hospital.

U.S. Policies Stir More Fear Than Confidence

By Jeffrey Fleishman, Times Staff Writer